Is Grad School the right thing for you? - Part I
- TheGradStudent
- Jul 26, 2019
- 5 min read
Howdy! You are probably reading through this blog post while either approaching the end of your undergrad, about to start graduate school, or just procrastinating as you run experiments, and put your dissertation or thesis together.
Just like grad school, or any project, getting started is often the toughest part. I’ve given some thought to the topic my first blog post, wanting to keep it relevant to grad school, but also strong enough to capture the attention of any potential new viewers! “Is graduate school the right thing for you?” seemed like an intriguing enough topic to capture the attention of a broad audience.
In order to make this post applicable to the different audiences, I’ll be breaking down my thoughts for four different types of people.
Individuals about to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree, now considering both Masters and PhD options.
Individuals with a few years of “real-world” experience, now considering coming back to school to specialize.
Individuals currently pursuing a Masters evaluating their options.
And my own group: individuals doing their PhD wondering what their options are.
In order to keep the content concise enough to read through in one sitting, I've decided to break up my arguments into two posts, discussing the first two in detail in this blog post, and continuing with the other two in a future blog post.
Group 1 – Those about to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree
Regardless of your major, graduate school is a very viable option for many reasons. Many join academia and pursue a Master’s as they assume that it’ll be easier to complete their coursework having recently graduated with content fresh in their minds. Although, this might be true for most cases, something that is often overlooked is the fact that unlike the undergrad experience, the grad experience is so much more that the courses we take. Depending on the type of Master’s or advanced degree you are pursuing you’ll either be expected to come up with a thesis, a final project report, or a prototype to name a few different options. This will require you to reach out and go beyond your coursework, and consult experts in the field as you push your own boundaries exploring your area of interest/specialization.
So is grad school what you’re looking for? Well, a number of things factor into this decision. To start off with you’d need to consider your main motivation for pursuing grad school, i.e., are you looking to become a professor, or lecturer, and do you just enjoy teaching and outreach, OR are you looking for a concise, and better defined skill-set that will make you attractive to potential employers in a particular industry? Honestly, in my opinion, if it is the latter, it is advisable to get hands on experience before considering grad school. Although, you’ll be learning advanced topics in your field of interest, employers in my opinion, in general value hands-on experience, including internship opportunities and similar projects, than extra academic experience.
If you’re almost certain that you would like to remain in academia, and pursue that career path, it’s advisable to ensure that you have the appropriate grades, and relevant research experience to apply to the correct grad schools. Although, in general your research group (and professor) that you’ll be working with matters more than the university you attend, when pursuing a future in academia many universities looking to hire you as a faculty member do pay close attention to the university where you completed your highest degree, along with a number of related factors such as the competitiveness, the research tier (this is something in the US where universities are split into research tiers, depending on how good they are), and amount of funding and so on. Therefore, it’s essential to ensure that you can present yourself as a complete package if you’re looking to get into the top-tier universities in order to obtain those advanced degrees. If you’re dead certain you want to remain in academia, I’d recommend looking for direct-PhD options, rather than doing a Master’s before applying for PhD positions. Although there will be a steep learning curve, you’ll be able to save two years, leaving you with the stamina to pursue a post-doctoral position or two before applying for tenure-track faculty positions.
If you’re in the group that is uncertain, I’d definitely recommend starting off with a Master’s, allowing you to test the waters, and get used to the academic lifestyle before deciding if you fit in.
I guess the takeaway from this section is the need for an individual to take their own time, reflect by themselves, and try to refine their choice of career path. Having said that if you’re unsure of what you want to do, you can always seeks advice from grad students, professors, and industry professionals that you may know. Everyone is willing to provide feedback, and talk about their experiences. All you need to do is ask!
Group 2 – Individuals with a few years of “real-world” experience
There a number of reasons that many look to get back to academia after a few years in the “real-world”. Depending on your job, a Bachelor’s degree might restrict you to certain titles, meaning that you require an advanced degree to get promoted. This would mean that you need to obtain a Master’s degree in order to get a managerial job (i.e., higher salary and promotions). Fortunately, many universities give you the option of registering for a Master’s degree part-time, so that you can continue taking coursework, as your work schedule permits, meaning that you can study and work simultaneously. Although, this requires a certain degree of motivation, and time to get used, the flexibility that this brings allows you to maintain a stable income, while pursuing an advanced. It’s worth noting that many campuses also provide an option to take many classes online, allowing students to register and take classes via distance, and watch the class lectures at their convenience.
There’s also the situation where international students may not be permitted to be part-time students, while on a work permit (OPT/H1B or similar status in the US), meaning that they may be required to choose to either continue to work, or give up a good job to pursue and advanced degree. This is a trickier situation to provide a straight answer to. In my opinion, this needs to be judged on a case-by-case basis. A few factors to look into are the following: the value of the degree that you’ll be pursuing, i.e., how easy will it be for you to find a secure position once you graduate, how prestigious and well-known the university is, i.e., can you use the alumni network to further expand you industry connections. Careful consideration needs to be given before deciding if the risk to you current stability is worth returning to graduate school. If you’re confident in yourself and your ability to find another job once you graduate, this would definitely be a path to choose. It should be worth noting that although PhD positions may provide you with a stipend, they are often significantly lower than what you may currently earn. If you're only interested in pursuing a Master's, many universities do not offer assistantships or fellowships for these positions. Therefore, a proper list of pros and cons needs to be made and analyzed if you happen to fall within this category!
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